Taylor didn’t know exactly what kind of preparations she needed to do in order to use her power.

She thought back to when Cheshire had appeared and... and let go of those memories with the same speed she would use upon accidentally stepping in dog droppings.

Groaning to herself, Taylor paced across the length of her room, arms crossed and head bowed as she tried to think. It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to experiment with her power. The warmth in her gut was still there and she had yet to really poke it. The problem was that she feared the consequences.

Would Cheshire disappear is she summoned another clone?

The question worried her. Not that she liked Cheshire or anything. The girl was a pain in the rear and nothing else.

She had the impression that the answer was no, that Cheshire would be fine, but she had no reason to know if that impression was accurate or not, or even where it came from. Capes were supposed to have some instinctive knowledge of how their powers worked, was that it?

“I’m going to do it,” she declared.

“Are ya sure?” Cheshire asked from her spot on Taylor’s bed. She was on her back and staring at the ceiling, arms and legs sprawled out every which way. “You could keep on wafflin’ like you’ve been doin’. Not like I’ve got anything better to do than watch ya waste both our time.”

Taylor ground her teeth, but Cheshire was essentially correct. “Fine,” she said. She moved over to her little desk and pulled its chair back before sitting down. She leaned forwards until her elbows were on her knees and focused. Cheshire sat up on the bed, arms out behind her to keep her up while her legs kicked at the sides of her mattress.

Taking a deep breath, Taylor focused on the thing inside her and waited. It gave her an impression of calm waters on the brink of receding, of something that put up a strong front against the world, but who was wilting inside. She closed her eyes and poked at the feeling in her gut.

It bloomed, expanded, and burst. Taylor opened her eyes in time to see a figure pop into existence before her with neither sound nor fanfare before she felt a wave of tiredness sweep over her.

She took in a deep breath to settle her nerves, and then another as the realization hit her. She really was a cape, a parahuman. It wasn’t some elaborate trick, and Cheshire wasn’t playing some cruel prank on her. She smiled at the new girl in the room, her good mood rising in her chest and leaving her feeling light headed. “Hi,” she said.

The girl before her curtsied, pulling at the sides of a puffed out dress and revealing white stockings and buckled shoes. “Hello,” she said.

Taylor took a good look at her. She was relieved to see that however her power worked, it didn’t create an actual clone of the cape she touched. The girl was tiny, a whole foot shorter than Cheshire and had tanned skin and middle eastern features with huge, guileless dark eyes. Nothing at all like the doll cape they had seen at the Boardwalk.

“Hey,” Taylor said for a lack of better things to say. “It’s nice to meet you?”

Cheshire snorted. “Hey little sis,” she said. “Glad you made it. Give big sis a minute to get her shit together. In the meantime, lemme lay down the law, yeah?”

“I would rather rather hear the law from my bigger sister,” the girl said with a prim and proper tone. Her accent had just the faintest british hint behind it.

“I am y’er bigger sister. I was out first, and I’m bigger. So there.”

“Cheshire,” Taylor warned and the girl back off with a huff, one hand reached to the cat-eared hoodie she wore to pull it down over her eyes.

“What?” Cheshire asked. “D’you see how prim n’ proper she looks? Bet’cha she won't do nothing if it means gettin’ ‘er hands dirty.”

Cheshire was at least right about the way the new girl looked. She stood with her back straight, even if it didn’t help her look any taller. Her dress had little flowers embroidered along the edges and was a soft brown that matched her hair with a few sky-blue pleats. The entire front of her costume was covered in a big smock of the same blue and a beret sat at a jaunty angle on the back of her head.

“I am not merely prim,” the girl said in a tone that would have been haughty if her voice didn’t squeak so much. “I’m trying to be civilised. Do you even know what that means?” One hand rose to the sides of her poofy skirt where Taylor noticed she had pockets cleverly hidden by the lacy frills.

Cheshire jumped off the bed and raised a fist. “I’ll show you civil eyes when I poke yours out, doll girl.”

The new girl’s eyes widened and she ‘eeped’ before moving next to Taylor and using her as a human shield.

“Yeah, that’s right. Y’er a coward is what you are,” Cheshire said, a fanged grin growing on her face.

Taylor was about to start trying to calm the two down when a knock sounded at her door and it opened a moment later. Her dad poked his head in. “Heya kiddos. It’s getting a little late, you two--” he froze, taking in the new girl before his brow scrunched up. “I mean, you three should be getting ready for bed.”

“Daddy!” Cheshire said as she shot across the room and stopped next to Taylor’s dad. “Tell big sis that I don’t need to go to bed yet,” she demanded.

Danny laughed and placed a hand on her head. She turned, shooting an impossibly smug grin at the new girl. “None of that. You need your sleep to grow big and strong. But before that,” he said as he leaned forward and gave the air a sniff. “Maybe a bath is in order.”

“I don’t need no bath,” Cheshire protested immediately.

“So that’s what the smell was,” the new girl said.

“Bitch, I will cut you.”

“Girls!” Danny barked. “No hurting each other, not even with words. And, uh, especially not with knives.”

Cheshire’s cheeks puffed out as she looked up to him. “Only if ya give me more headpats,” she said.

Danny laughed and pat the top of her head. “Sure thing, little kitty. Taylor, can you take care of your sisters?”

“Yeah,” Taylor said faintly. “I’ll do what I can.”